Over my years as team leader, online EIC, and print EIC, I've learned to edit staffers' work with respect for their effort and for their autonomy as a writer and designer. Despite the many drafts and calls along the way, I love witnessing the transformation from first draft to ready-to-publish work.
EDITING
EDITING
STAFF ARTICLES
While editing articles, I generally use the suggestion tool on Google Docs to correct AP Style errors and potentially choppy or wordy writing. Additionally, I may move around certain quotes and transitions in order to aid the flow of the article. If more extensive changes are needed, I message the writer, leave comments, or work with them on a call or in person. For examples of my process in such cases, please see the transformations of two articles below:
Colonials Blowout Hampton Road Generals in Homecoming Game
When I first got the draft of the game recap (below left), the one thing that stood out to me was how much editorializing there was. The writer seemed to have imbued the piece with her thoughts as a fan rather than as a reporter. Though I could've made the edits myself, the issue was widespread enough throughout the article that I felt like it made more sense for the staffer to make the corrections and learn while doing so (see message below right). Looking back, while I was right to ask her to make the edits herself, I should've given the staffer more resources on impartiality vs. editorializing rather than just directing her to my football articles.
Following my message, the staffer made a very significant amount of edits to the article. Though instances of editorializing remained, I was pleased with how well she recognized and addressed her own mistakes.
Following the staffer's second draft, I worked with her to recap the game in a more concise way. In the staffer's third paragraph, for example, she initially listed all four touchdowns in the first half and how they happened. For the sake of brevity, I cut the block of text down to one sentence. It is worth noting that the changes here (below left) are not as extensive as they seem on first glance at the revision history. I worked with the staffer in a copy of the document before pasting the revised paragraphs in. This enabled us to constantly refer to the original piece while working on revisions. Once we had made the changes to wording, I also suggested (below right) that the staffers get additional quotes from a fan and a player on the team that she had mentioned.
At last, after multiple revisions and a couple of extra quotes, the article had been fully edited. While working in the document, I accidentally overlooked the AP style error in "September 27," and a factual error when the piece said that Jefferson was up 28-0 at the end of the second half. However, I corrected the two mistakes in the SNO platform before publishing the article on tjtoday.org.
Up to the Ultimate Challenge
While similarly extensive change was needed for "Up to the Ultimate Challenge," the issue lay in the angle of the article rather than just the way it was written. After I heard about the hurdles facing Jefferson's unofficial ultimate frisbee team, I suggested to two staffers that they write an article about it for print. Though they did well to interview a player on the team, the article lacked variety in its interviews and seemed more like a rundown of the club's issues rather than a sports feature.
After reading the draft, I suggested to the staffers that they incorporate more of the positives of how ultimate frisbee responded to the challenges that they faced. However, the result was an article (below left) that felt like a muddled combination of an ad for ultimate frisbee and a rundown of the club's challenges. At last, I realized that the staffers' struggle to write the article lay in the lack of a clear-cut angle. In response, I suggested (below right) that they cover something more specific, such as how the team was being self coached.
With the deadline fast approaching, I sat in on the staffer's interview with the ultimate frisbee captain about self-coaching to make sure that everything went as planned. Halfway through, I realized that it made sense to center the article around how the captain had guided the team through the tumultuous time. Based on this idea, I suggested several questions to the staffer to ask the captain (below left). The two writers later used the responses to write a new draft that centered on the captain himself (below right).
While I was pleased with the change in angle, the article lacked tension, or an indirect explanation for why the captain was being featured. To fix this issue, I worked with the staffers to write a new lead, while also reordering or rewording other parts of the piece.
Before publishing, we made a few more stylistic changes. Overall, I'm satisfied with the progress of the article from first draft to final piece. Though it was painstaking, especially given the tight deadline for the print issue, I'm proud of the work that both I and the two staffers put into making improvements to the article.
STAFF PRINT DESIGNS
I would not be where I am as a designer without the mentorship of my previous editors-in-chief. Rather than take over a spread, they provided me with helpful ideas and worked with me step by step whenever it looked like I was in need of extra assistance. Now, as print editor-in-chief, I adopt many of their same strategies. My goal as an editor is not to just to help the designs grow, but to help the designers themselves improve. Below, I have included three examples of my design editing process, from start to finish.
CRACKING THE CODE
Below is the first edition of the spread (below right) and the design inspiration that they used (below left). Though the staffers' design incorporated the photos and articles well, the colors and the title design failed to jump off the page and catch the readers' eye.
After seeing the first edition of the spread, I worked with the designers in class to improve the fonts. They made the sans serif font bigger and replaced the serif font with a more computer-esque design. Later that night, in order to help the writers further branch out beyond their inspo, I suggested (below left) that they add a black background and replace the yellow bar with numbers to represent the achievement described in the article. The result is below on the right.
After seeing how the changes turned out, I worked with the designers to discuss any other possible improvements. During a call (below left), we decided they should drop the blue bar and make the headline larger. As they made the changes, I also suggested improvements to positioning and font. Below on the right is the final result of the spread:
TICKET TO THE FUTURE
As this particular spread was designed by a first-time designer, I needed to be slightly more hands-on. In their first edition of the design (below right), the staffer adopted the colors and stripes of the inspiration (below left) well. However, their cutouts were too small and the paragraphs were too wide. Additionally, as with the first spread, the headline design did not catch the readers' eye.
Given that extensive changes were needed, I worked with the staffer on a call (gallery, pic 1) to remodel the headline, cutouts, and paragraphs. I helped the designer find a more attractive headline inspo (gallery, pic 2) and incorporate it into his spread. Additionally, with my guidance, he made the cutouts bigger and arranged the paragraphs into columns (see below right).
As final improvements, I suggested (below left) that the staffer change the design of the player name fonts to make them more attractive and cohesive with the rest of the spread. The result is below on the right:
FIRED UP FOR FITNESS
When I first saw the inspiration (below left) chosen for this design, I was incredibly excited. It was colorful and out of the box, much like the club that was being featured in the article on this spread. I thought the first edition of the spread (below right) incorporated many of the elements of the inspo well, but also needed slight changes to font and photo placement.
In my feedback to the designer (below left), I recommended that he try to replicate the inspo more. Addtionally, I pointed out needed improvements to the cutout of the photo. The result was the spread on the bottom right:
After seeing the second draft of the spread, I got on a call with the staffer to discuss any other possible improvements. In the end, we decided to replace the two images on the spread with a dominant image of the co-founder helping a member lift weights. While it was disappointing to stray away from such a lovey inspo, the job of design is to highlight the content on the spread, and in this case,the chosen dominant photo made more sense given the photos at our disposal. Other changes included font, headline positioning, and paragraph width and alignment.
SELF-EDITING
As important as it is to be able to revise and critique the work of others, I've found that it's even more vital to be able to revisit my work and revise it as many times as necessary. I take pride in my flexibility as a student journalist, and my willingness to redo photoshoots, designs, and articles until I have a stellar product.
PANDEMIC VIBES (SPREAD)
While the first draft of my pandemic vibes spread was colorful and visually appealing, it was far too structured, especially given the topic that it was covering. After feedback from my adviser, I moved to a slightly more "chaotic" layout (gallery, pic 2) and made it so that the title repeated all the way down the spread.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED (PHOTO)
In every magazine issue, we include a section called What I've Learned in which we profile a randomly selected student or teacher within the Jefferson community. In September of this year, for the first time, I found myself in charge of the What I've Learned photoshoot. In my first attempt, I tried to get candid photos of the subject talking to those around her. However, when the photos turned out rather boring, I opted for a simple portrait shot instead, and came out extremely please with the results (gallery, pic 2).